upon every light occasion I order an Ounce of the salt to be dissolved in a Pint of warm water and the Mouth to be well washed with some of that water warm two or three times a day In the Jaundies I give it in Summer in Water or Whey in Winter in warm Posset-drink every other day five or six Drams or two days together according as it works then intermit a day and give it again and on the intermitting days half the Dose continuing the use of it till the Yellowness and Faintness cease In the Dropsie I give it in the same manner as in the Jaundies only in a less quantity of the Vehicle I have cured both the Ascites and the Anasarca with it but thwether it will do ought in a Tympany I know not having never given it that I remember in that Disease for in that I am wont to use my Arcanum Universale Species Universalis and Tinctura Regalis But in an Ascites whether it proceed from an Obstruction of the Liver Kidneys or Ureters or from a Rupture of the Vasa Lymphatica from their two great Repletion from which last I perswade my self more Dropsies do arise than from any other cause this Medicine answers all the Intentions of cure because it not only opens all Obstructions and pleasantly reduceth the water but also by its strengthning and Balsamick Virtue Conglutinates the breaches of those Vessels and Remedies the too great laxity of the Viscera having all the Vertues of a compleat vulnerary Medicine as I shall have occasion to shew by and by when I come to speak of its external use In Hysterical Suffocations commonly called Fits of the Mother and Melancholy Vapours I give two or three Drams dissolved in a Pint and a half or a Quart of pure water upon the approach of the Fit or if that cannot be as soon as the Fit is off and in the time of the Fit when greater quantities cannot be got down I order the Dissolution of the Salt in water to be given by Spoonfulls The next day I purge with the whole Dose dissolved in a Quart of water And for as much as those suffocating Fumes are caused by Obstructions and Fuliginous matter remaining in the small Vessels where they ferment from time to time causing a puffing up and Sense of fulness especially sometime after eating it is necessary to take the Salt daily for sometime to open and carry off the Obstructions as in the second general Direction by this means their frequent Returns may be prevented by extirpating the Evil which frequently in those dismal oppressions to the poor female Sex is but only palliated In the Green-sickness in Maids it is necessary to dissolve an Ounce of the Salt in a Quart of pure water and to take half a Pint of the water at night going to Bed and the same quantity early the next Morning continuing this Course daily for three four or five Weeks if need be not omitting to purge the Patient first with a full Dose or two at the beginning as in the second general Direction as also two or three days before the full of the Moon that Nature may be the more effectually helped in this way of operating Where the Menses are only stopt it is to be taken as in the second general Direction for Obstructions besides which the Patient is to be purged once or twice with the full Dose two or three days before her monthly time of Expectancy This Medicine is also of singular use for those Women whose Months are about to leave them in preventing many disorders which are occasioned thereby in which case it is to be taken once or twice to the quantity of half an Ounce or five or six Drams for three or sour Months successively about the time when they ought to flow I have known some Women of Fifty years of Age who have by the use of this Medicine seemed again in that respect to grow young I have also easily and effectually with this Salt delivered some Women of false Great Bellies About two Months since I gave three quarters of an Ounce of Sal Solutivum to a Maid about twenty one years of Age who had a very ill habit of Body and a pale sickly Complexion having never had the Course of Nature in due order or quantity and for some Months past totally suppressed She was now seized with a grievous pain in her Right side emulating an illegitimate Plurisie which as she told me had frequently assaulted her for some Months past for the removing which Pain I gave her the Salt which gave her seven or eight Stools before Noon without any Sickness or Griping by which time her Pain was quite gone out of her side She eat some Dinner and about two hours afterwards discharged her Stomach by Vomit of a great quantity of filthy green Matter after which she had two or three Stools more with which her Menses came down plentifully which with her often going to the Vault occasioned her catching of Cold and a sore Throat I ordered she should have somewhat warm and comfortable and go to Bed and keep very warm the next day which she did the Night following she still complaining of her Throat and a Soreness all over her Bones as she phras'd it I ordered her ten Grains of my Pilula Balsamica which sweat her very plentifully during her sweating her natural Purgations were but little but as soon as that was over they returned again continuing for a due time since which she hath remained well It is a singular Remedy for the Worms of all sorts killing them and resolving them into Slime and purging their putrid Matter out of the Body To Children from three years of Age to seven I give from a Dram and a half to three Drams from seven to fourteen half an Ounce from fourteen to twenty or more from half an Ounce to three quarters of an Ounce or six Drams dissolved in fair Water Whey or Posset-drink and continued every day for a Week together Where it is difficult to get Children to take it a little Sugar may be added to the Dissolution to make it the pleasanter My Volatile Spirit of Salt also effecteth the same in a longer time in those Children which cannot be perswaded to take the Salt which they may take in all their drink and not discern it The Salt and this Spirit used together are still more effectual In the Piles I give a quarter of an Ounce of the Salt dissolved in half a Pint of water in Summer time or warm Posset-drink in Winter which just keeps the Belly soluble and by dulcifying the Acrimony of the protruded Blood takes away the Pain and Inflammation besides which if the Piles be outward I order them to be often embrocated with my Aqua Phagadenica and fine Rags to be laid upon them wet in the same water but if they be within the Anus then I order the same water to be warmed and
Mineralogia OR An Account of the Preparation manifold Vertues and Uses of a Mineral Salt both in Physick and Chyrurgery which is so safe pleasant and effectual in its Operation that it may be taken by those of all Ages and Constitutions with great Benefit and without Danger of the least Prejudice To which is added A short Discourse of the Nature and Uses of the Sulphurs of Minerals and Metals in curing the most Chronical and pertinacious Diseases By Chr. Packe Philo-Chymico-Medicus LONDON Printed and are to be sold by D. Newman at the Kings-Arms in the Poultry 1693. An Account of the Vertues and Vse of Sal Solutivum Prepared only by Chr. Packe at his Laboratory next Door to the Gun in Little-Moor-Fields near Moorgate AFTER many years Experience of the vertues and worth of this Medicine in helping and curing many Diseases to which the Body of man is subject which of late I have also much improved and exalted in its Vertues I have determined at length for a publick Benefit and to excuse my self from writing many Letters to publish the following Account of it I. It is a Salt prepared of Mineral Subjects by apt Mediums purify'd and reconciled to the Archeus or Aura vitalis of the Humane Body which is the adequate object of Medicine and thereby becomes a Salutiferous remedy enobled with Vertues sufficient for the curing of many Diseases This Definition ariseth from its Subject Object and End II. It is neither an Acid nor an Alcaly but a Salt of a middle Nature being able to pass the several Digestions unchanged and in its passage to resolve and absterge all Preternatural Coagulations for which Reason I call it Sal Solutivum III. It is endowed with those Four general Properties viz. Cathartick Diuretick Deobstruent and allaying of all Preternatural heat and Acrimony Besides which as I have now exalted and improved it with the noble Sulphur of Venus it is a general easer of Pain and Extinguisher of Venereal Venoms that are not grown to a confirm'd Pox as is manifest by what it effects now in alleviating the Pains of the Gout Rhumatism Tooth-ach Collick Griping of the Guts Virulent Ghonnorhaea's c. beyond what it could have done heretofore Having thus briefly premised its Nature and Qualifications in general for the satisfaction of such Physicians as may desire to make use of it I shall now Address my self more particularly to shew its Virtues and manner of using 1. Sal Solutivum purgeth the gross Excrements and most viscous Humours of the first passages without Nauseating the Stomach or the least griping Pains 2. It is singular in opening Obstructions of the Vessels and Visâ—era 3. It purifies and invigorates the whole Mass of Blood and restores it to iâ—… natural State for being an amicable Salt it hath admittance into the Blood and reacheth as Helmont saith of fixed Alcalyes made Volatile usque ad limen quartae Digestionis But this is deny'd to all ordinary purging Medicines which if through any inadvertency of the Archeus they chance to slip into the lacteal Veins and so into the Blood they cause griping Convulsive pains Stiches Flux of Blood Faintings c. till Nature hath again discharged her self of them and so instead of purging the Blood too often both corrupt and exhaust it And these two Properties are well worth the observing being not to be met with even in the mildest of the common Catharticks For this cause it is of great use in Fevers neither disturbing the Juices nor accending the Blood I have seen many Fevers proceeding from Surfeits both in eating and drinking quickly cured by it and even Hectick Fevers themselves in a longer time but such as I judged to proceed from a Scorbutick or venereal Cause As for those which are wont to accompany a Pthisis I have had no Experience of it in them yet I doubt not but even in those it would allay the Preternatural heat But that this Medicine may be given to the best advantage it is necessary in the Administring it to have regard to two special Intentions which Physicians are wont to observe in the curing Diseases viz. 1. The purging the first passages the Stomach and Intestines of gross Excrements and Filths 2. To open and dissolve all Stagnant and obstructing matter in the Viscera as the Pancreas Mesentery Liver Spleen Reins and Womb and to correct and purifie the Blood when it decllnes from its natural Crasis The ordinary Dose of this Salt to purge according to the first Intention which only is purging according to common Acceptation is from half an Ounce to six Drams dissolved in a Pint or a Pint and a half of warm Posset-drink new Whey or pure Water and drank in the Morning fasting Those that cannot take such a quantity of Liquor may dissolve their Dose in half a Pint which will presently dissolve it if it be warmed and drink another half Pint presently after it and a third half an hour after that and fast till Dinner-time except the Patient have a mind to take a Porrenger of Water Gruel or thin Broth neither will a draught of Ale or a Dish of Tea at all hinder but promote the working of it Those who like neither Posset-drink Whey or Water or want the Conveniency of getting them may take it in Ale and it will do well enough although in some few Persons I have known it cause a Drowsiness when taken in spirituous Liquors the Reason of which is its partaking of the Anodyne Narcotick Sulphurs of Mars and Venus which readily associate themselves with the vegetable Sulphurous Spirit by which they are quickly carried to the Brain yet the use which may be made of this in some Cases is not inconsiderable as is well known to Physicians This Medicine doth not only gently dissolve and expurge the Excrements of the Stomach and Guts but it also corrects the violence of all Preternatural Purges if you put but two Drams of it in their infusion or drink the same quantity in a draught of warm Posset-drink after Pills which gripe and operate Churlishly It hath also a power of stopping the working of Vomits some of which greatly incommode the Stomach by Vellicating its Membranes and impressing them with a Nauceating Character to prevent which let two or three Drams of the Sal Solutivum be dissolved in half a Pint of cold water and drank about half an hour before the Vomit is taken Or in case a Vomit be taken which worketh too violently or too long that is when the Stomach is wholly emptied and yet the Patient continueth to reach let a Dram and a half or two Drams of the Salt be dissolved in a large Glass of warm Posset-drink or rather warm Water because Posset-drink may at that time be disgustful and be drank off Do the same when a Vomit hath done working and yet the Patient finds a swimming or Giddiness in the Head or a Nauseousness or disposition to Vomit for the Salt
injected by a Syringe twice or thrice a day and a Rag three or sour times double well wetted in the same to be applied outwardly and by this Course the Piles by degrees dwindle and shrink up like dryed Grapes This Course hath never failed me but hath been effectual even when the Piles have been inveterate and fistulated To those who are subject to the Piles I advise the daily use of my Volatile Spirit of Salt in all their Drink to the quantity of thirty or forty Drops a day it is far better in this Disease than any Diet-drink In Virulent Ghennerheas or Claps I give first six Drams of the Salt dissolved in fair water in Summer or in a Pint of warm Posset-drink in Winter ordering the Patient to drink another Pint within an hour after then I give half an Ounce so dissolved every Morning in a Pint of the Vehicle continuing it till all the heat and sharpness is gone and the Gleet fit to be stopt which sometimes will be in a Week sometimes a Fortnight or three Weeks according as it is of shorter or longer standing or the Diseasyfying-power milder or stronger for it pleasantly and effectually educeth the venereal Venome purifyeth the Seed and strengtheneth the Spermatick Vessels But when the Issuing is fit to be stopt I give my Balsamum ad Ghonnorhaeam every night at going to Bed from twenty to forty Drops mixt with a little Sugar and half an Ounce of the Salt every other Morning But where a Ghonnorhaea hath not been taken in time or hath been unduly stopt so that it be turned into an incipient Pox and I find by giving six or seven Doses of the Salt that it cannot reach it then I have recourse to purging and sweating alternately with my Manna Mercurii and Aurum vitae Bezoardicum which usually effects the Cure to satisfaction But in a Chonnorhaea unduly stopt known for the most part at the first by a painful Tumour in the Groyn when it hath not exceeded a Month three four or five Doses of this Salt will set it a running again and aftewards Cure it being used as above with the Balsome but in longer time I have known some who have fallen into the hands of Men either unskilful in this matter or worse who have endeavoured to discuss those Tumours which themselves have made by their unseasonable stopping of a Ghonnorhaea and have sometimes effected it so well as when the Patient hath thought himself cured of a Clap he hath soon after been attacked by the Symptoms of the Pox and so the last Error of the Physician was worse than the first In the Chollick or Griping of the Guts where there is great pain I dissolve six Drams or three quarters of an Ounce of the Salt in a Quart of hot spring water and order the Patient to drink three or four Glasses in the space of half an hour as hot as he can But if there be Vomiting let it be drank more leisurely viz. A quarter of a Pint once in a quarter of an hour till the Vomiting cease then take notice how much of the Medicine hath been vomited up and give so much again that the Patient may have the full Dose If in the water you intend to dissolve the Salt in you first boyl the bruised Seeds of Anise sweet Fennel Carraway and Coriander a Dram or two Drams of each to a Quart of water it will be the better because those Seeds have a peculiar Virtue of pacifying the Exorbitant fury of the Pylorus you may put in the Salt in the boyling which will extract the Vertues of the Seeds sooner and better than water alone can do But beware that you neither boyl infuse or warm any Liquor in which the Salt is in Brass or Copper Vessels but in Silver Tin or Earth lest it attract from the the Metal somewhat disagreeable to the Stomach It usually easeth the pain in two or three hours time sometimes sooner but where the Stomach will not retain it or it doth not overcome and expell the obstructing matter in a few hours time I give a second Dose and if that fail as I have some few times seen in the dry Gripes and Wind Chollick then I have recourse to my Arcanum Universale which Blessed be the Almighty hath not that I remember ever failed me Note that after the Pains are allay'd it is necessary to purge the Body divers times with the Salt dissolved in the aforementioned Decoction of Seeds to carry off the remaining Excrements which otherwise retaining a diseasy Ferment may soon cause a fresh disorder But in a bilious Chollick known by bitterness of the Mouth Vomiting Yellowness of the Skin c. you may leave out the Seeds and give it in water only the Seeds being more precisely adapted to the help of the Wind Chollick Gripes Illiack Passion c. yet they are endowed with a general Vertue of pacifying the Pylorus In a Diarrhaea or common Looseness boyl some Bran in pure water strain the Decoction and in a Pint of it dissolve three Drams of the Salt and drink it up at twice at three or four hours distance do this three or four times over if need be But in a Dysentery or Bloody-Flux I give the Salt dissolved in a Decoction of red Rose leaves half an Ounce a day as long as it is required after both which the Patient must be purged with the whole Dose dissolved in a Quart of the same Decoction in which it was given before to sweeten the Acrimony In the Bloody-Flux I have given six Drams of it Clyster-wise in the foresaid Decoction besides giving it at the Mouth by two Drams at a time twice a day and that with great Success In Headachs Inflammations and Rhumes in the Eyes I give five or six Drams every other day so long as there is need many of which it hath taken away at three or four times taking But as an Auxiliary Topick in Inflammations and Rhumes of the Eyes I order a few drops of my Aqua Opthalmica to be dropt into the Eyes two or three times a day In the Itch Botches Boyls and other Cholerick Eruptions of the Skin I give half an Ounce or five Drams every day dissolved in a Quart or three Pints of water or New Whey in the Morning as the Mineral-Waters for a Week Fortnight Three weeks or a Month together as the greatness of the Disease requires In those Cases it cannot be enough commended It hath cured some that have been adjudged Leprous In those Diseases I order together with it my Volatile Spirit of Salt to be taken inwardly as in the Scurvy and my Aqua Phagadenica to be used outwardly by washing with it twice a day In Heat or Gravel in the Kidneys or stoppage or heat of Urine first I purge the Body with one whole Dose then dissolve an Ounce in a Quart of water in Summer or warm Posset-drink in Winter and let the Patient drink half a
will free the Tunicles of the Stomach and contract and corroborate them precipitating the offending Particles per inferior a but I add not this to encourage any Body to meddle with such Physick without due Advice but to shew the safety and efficacy of the Medicine N.B. This Salt never leaves the Belly bound as the common Purges do but always soluble and is the best Remedy that I know against a Costive Temper of Body The second Intention is to alter and open Obstructions in the Liver Spleen Pancreas Mesentery Reins Bladder and Womb from which proceed many tedious and stubborn Diseases as the Scurvy Dropsie Jaundies Hypocondriack Melancholy Vapours Green-sickness Rhumatism inveterate Head-ach Restlessness Sleepiness Vertigo Phrenzy Cramps Convulsions Internal Inflammations and Aposthumes Piles Exulcerations of the Kidneys and Bladder Gravel stoppage of Urine c. together with many others arising from Obstructions and Acrimony of the Blood and viral Juices In all which the chief end of this Medicine being to resolve and attenuate the thick and stagnant Juices or Excrements of the several Digestions which lye in the smallest passages to Contemper any excess of quality in the Bile Lympha and Blood by mingling it self with the Chyle and Blood and insinuating it self into the more inward recesses of the Body this method is to be observed First purge the Body with half an Ounce five or six Drams of the Salt according to the Patients are and strength dissolved either in Posset-drink Whey or Water as you please to carry off the gross Excrements of the first passages and to make way for the better Penetration and distribution of the Remedy into all the parts of the Body If the first Dose purge not to your mind take another the next day that the aforesaid end may be answered Then dissolve the same quantity of the Salt you gave to purge in a Quart or three Pints of pure water and let the Patient take a third part of it the same Night after the purge three hours after Supper another third part the next Morning early before he riseth that he may sleep upon it and the remaining third part in the Day-time between Meals and this to be continued for a Week Fortnight or three Weeks c. as occasion shall require But because some Patients cannot drink any considerable quantity of water without nauseating or other inconveniency to their Bodies the Physician may accommodate the quantity of water to his own liking provided he order but enough to dissolve it well that it may not taste too strong This Salt answers all the ends of the Mineral-Waters both purging and Chaly beat besides and beyond which it hath some Advantages one of which is the certainty of its Nature and Operations the which cannot be affirmed of any of the Mineral Springs seeing that there may be a growth or accidental Concourse of various matter in the passages of the Earth which may variously impregnate the waters passing through them and make some Alteration in their Properties Besides the Patient is obliged to drink a large quantity of the Mineral Waters or they will not work which if they do not they cause Gripings Stiches Sleepiness Feverish Dispositions and other inconveniences arising from the Crudity of the Minerals as well as from the quantity of the Water especially the Chalybeat which also require purging besore and after a Course of drinking them to prevent some hurts which otherwise might arise by their use which every one is excused from in the use of this Salt for where a large quantity of water is not convenient for the Patient a Quart a Pint and a half yea even a Pint may serve this being also its own purge Besides it being free from Mineral Crudity and wholly pure and friendly to Nature can never do hurt but always good by being long retain'd in the Body Nor is it to be reckoned amongst the smallest Advantages to those who are confin'd to a place by Business or by the Narrowness of their Fortune that they may take this artificial Mineral-Water at all times of the year and in all places without loss of time hinderance of business or the charge of Coach-hire to and from the Wells or more chargeable maintaining themselves there If you would use it instead of the purging Waters as Epsome Dulwich Northall c. dissolve six Drams or three quarters of an Ounce of the Salt in the same quantity of pure spring-Spring-water as would be fit for the Patient of any of the purging Waters viz. from three Pints to three Quarts ordering him to drink it by degrees in the Morning in the space of an hour and a half or two hours and to walk or use some Exercise in the open Air provided it be in the Summer time and to order himself as if he were drinking the Mineral purging Waters But if you would have it answer the end of the Chalybeat waters as the German-Spaw Tunbridge Islington c. viz. to purge but little by Stool but to alter and open Obstructions then use it as in the second general Direction already given Now although this Salt be of great use and service in very many diseases yet I have by long Experience observed that in some it is specifically potent as in the Scurvy Jaundies Dropsie Hysterical Suffocations Melancholy Vapours Green-sickness stoppage of the Menses Piles Ghonnorrhaea Collick Diarrhaea Bloody Flux Griping of the Guts Worms of all sorts old Head-achs Inflammations and Rhumes of the Eyes Itch and Cholerick Eruptions of the Skin stoppage and heat of Urine In all which Cases I may truly say it hath signaliz'd it self and often exceeded my Expectations And although from the Directions already given any one may easily collect the way of giving it in those Diseases yet for the publick Good I shall be somewhat more particular In the Scurvy I first purge the Patient with a Dose or two of Sal Solutivum as at the beginning of the second general Direction then I dissolve an Ounce of it in a Quart of pure water by shaking them together in a Bottle till all the Salt is dissolved and then order the Patient to drink half a Pint of the same at night going to Bed and another half Pint early in the Morning so that half an Ounce of the Salt is taken in a day and this I continue daily for a Month or six Weeks according to the age and strength of the Disease ordering the Patient besides to drink a pure and well rectify'd Volatile Spirit of Salt in all his drink as well at meats as at other times ten or twelve Drops at a time or more so that he may drink the quantity of forty or fifty Drops in a day which Spirit of Salt may be had at my House sealed up in Glasses with printed Directions for its use Price of each Glass a Shilling for such as have the Scurvy manifested in their Mouths by Soreness of the Gums and their readiness to bleed
Pint at night going to Bed and also early in the Morning besides which I order thirty or forty drops a day of my Volatile Spirit of Salt continuing the use of those till all the Preternatural heat be gone the Obstructions opened or Gravel ceaseth to come away Thus I have in as brief a manner as I could set down my Experiences of the internal use of this Medicine wherein I am not Conscious to my self that I have in any thing commended it beyond its just merit I shall in the next place and somewhat concerning its external Vertues and Use to which by way of Conclusion and Confirmation I shall subjoyn the Observations of some learned and skilful Physicians concerning its Vertues which they have been so kind to Communicate to me for the publick Good Of the External use of Sal Solutivum This Salt hath its peculiar Excellencies in Chyrurgery as well as in Physick it presently stops bleeding cures an ordinary Wound whether incised or contused at one single dressing but if the Wound be large and lacerated provided it be timely and duly applyed at two or three dressings as I my self have divers times seen It takes away all Inflammation and pain from the Wound in half an hours time never suffering it to come to Suppuration but cures it by the first Intention There are three ways of preparing it to apply it to Wounds The first is to take some of the Chrystalline Salt in the Summer time and spread it thin in a broad Glass dish or Earthen one glazed and expose it to the Sun all day stirring it now and then and covering it with a clean Paper to keep any dust from falling into it and in a few days you will have it come to a Powder like fine Flower when it is brought to this state I believe it will perform all things which are rightly ascribed to the Sympathetick powder but this I leave and recommend to the Tryal of the ingenious among which if any shall be so generous to Communicate to me any effects of this Salt which may be of further use to the publick they shall be thankfully received and again improved to that end The Second way is to put some of the Salt into double Papers about half an Ounce or less in a paper and wear it some time in the Pocket that the warmth of the Body may supply the place of the Suns heat and in like manner bring it to an impalpable powder and this may be done in the Winter-time without attendance or trouble The third way is to dissolve four Ounces of the Salt in a Quart of warm water put into a Bottle and shaking it till it is all dissolved and keeping it close stopt for use The first way it is most powerful the last or the least Efficacy but either way will well serve For a small Wound or Hurt take a little of the powder of the first or second Preparation and lay it upon the Wound pretty thick and bind it on close so that no Air may come in and let it continue on till 't is healed which will quickly be but it is convenient to let it remain on for two or three days that it may be confirmed If at any time when you take off the dressing you find in a Cut that it is not sufficiently consolidated or in a Bruise that all the Soreness and Blackness is not gone presently apply a little more of the Medicine and let it lye till the Hurt is quite well But if you have not the powder of the first or second Preparation then take a pledget of Lint or fine Tow or a fine linnen Rag three or four times double which let be well and throughly wetted with the water of the third Preparation and apply that to the Hurt as the other which once in twelve hours or oftner if need be you may moisten all over with some of the same water without opening it if the Wound be large Where the Wound is large or lacerated first let it be clean washed with warm Urine so that it may be freed from Dirt or other extraneous Matter then take such a quantity of the powder as you think necessary well to cover the Wound and mix it with so much of the White of an Egg first well beat till it be thin as will make it into the Consistency of a pretty thin Liniment which spread upon fine Tow or fine Linnen and apply it to the Wound with convenient Bandage letting it remain two or three days before you open it except in that time you find any considerable pain which if you do it is a Sign that the Air hath access to the Wound and then open it and presently apply a fresh dressing as close as possibly you can Note that if there be in the Wound such torn ragged Flesh that hath taken Air and you judge uncapable of Conglutination take it off with your Scissers before you apply the dressing If you have not the powder then use the water as above directed The powder will answer all the Intentions of cure in an Amputation being duly applyed with good Bandage It cures Ruptures in Children if the Rupture be first put up and then the powder mixt with the White of an Egg as for a Wound and applyed to the Scrotum or Navel as the Rupture is with convenient Bandage and renewed every fourth day and the Salt daily taken inwardly dissolved in a Decoction of Comfry-Roots so much as may just keep the Belly loose but not purge for the straining of the Abdominal Muscles in going to Stool is a great hinderance to the Agglutinating of Ruptures Suppose the Child be two or three years of Age dissolve half an Ounce of the Salt in a pint of the Decoction and give the Child three Spoonfuls of it Night and Morning renewing the Decoction and Salt against that is done and continue the Course for six weeks and by Gods blessing the Cure will be effected If the Child be younger two Spoonfuls may be enough if elder you must give it more according to the Rules before given varied with Discretion It also effects the same in Fractures of Bones being used in the same manner both inwardly and outwardly for it powerfully assisteth Nature in forming the Callous and also preventeth Fevers which not seldom happen upon those Accidents Half a Grain or a Grain at a time of the Powder may be blown up into the Nostrils daily Night and Morning to serve as an Errbine or sneezing Medicine for it pleasantly and copiously evacuateth superfluous Moisture by which it cureth Catarrhs it being also taken inwardly every other day for some time in such a quantity as may give three or four Stools which is ordinarily done with half an Ounce It gives present ease in the Toothach about a Dram of the powder being tied up in a fine Rag and apply'd to the pained Tooth but this is to be understood when the Toothach proceeds from
my Stomach frequently abounded with a Scorbutick Acidity I was apprehensive of Danger in promoting Maturation if A posthumous and that the Acidities of the Stomach would be as vexatious to an Ulcer if not in the first place altered Under this thoughtfulness I call'd to mind the Nature of Sal Solutivum the which altho' I had often administred to others yet had not taken four Doses thereof my Self for divers years However because of its gentle Solutive quality and the rather for that I knew by Experience that in a Saline Scorbutick habit it hath abated the saltness and sharpness of the Lympha Therefore God me so directing I resolved forthwith to rely upon the sole use of Sal Solutivum at which time my Distemper had not exceeded four days and presently dissolved a Dose thereof in warm Posset-drink being early in the Morning which wrought very little nor was my pains lessened but rather encreased for that day At Evening therefore I swallowed four Pills of Species Universalis and the pain for that Night the Pills having no Action became almost intolerable The next Morning I took a larger Dose of the Salt and felt in its Operation some ease before Noon The same day at Evening I took another Dose which after two or three Motions gave me far greater ease than the former so that I rested pretty well that Night The next Morning I found more of Soreness and Tenderness than pain Thus I continued to take the Salt every Morning and Night except the first Night that I took the Pills till my whole stock was spent which was but five Doses which I made up six by borrowing a Dose of one of my Patients to whom I had before prescribed some Doses of this Medicine by which time all my pain was happily and totally removed First the pain near the Navil gradually remitted inwardly as it encreased and afterwards that near my Back For the first three days my Excrements continued Foetid Crude and Slimy the fourth day the ordure became laudable enough nor have I had ever since the least Symtom of pain in those parts One thing worthy of Observation happened in the curing of this Distemper by the Salt which is that it also met with another at that time altogether unthought of which I hope it hath eradicated I having been free from it ever since It was a Tetanus or Cramp an old and frequent Concomitant of the Scurvy I either had it in my Fingers when writing in my Throat when yawning in my Thighs when stretching them down in the Bed once in almost all the Musculous parts of my Body occasioned by the taking of a Vomit many years since When on Horseback by turning my self about it would presently seize either my Neck Shoulders or Side so frequent and troublesome was it to me although by things inwardly taken and outwardly applyed it would perhaps remit its rigour for a week or more at a time sometimes nevertheless it would at other times within that Compass give me fresh Onsets to my exceeding great trouble and pain But now blessed be the thrice glorious Name of God I am freed from it with a Restoration and renewing of my Health One thing more worthy to be observed which I had almost forgot is this I had long had a Carnous Tumur occasioned at the first as I suppose by a wrench or strain of my Back this continued sometime after the beginning very painful after that a small Tubercle like a Wen arising from the Spine near the upper Vertebrae of the Loyns on the left Side Some Months after this a stretching pain with a Tumour from that part reached straightway the length of the Spleen which gradually Tumify'd to the Magnitude of a Childs Arm in a Pyramidal or Conical figure whose lesser end began from that Tubercle in the Back and the greater part stretching over the Spleen ended in the Hypoconder of that side This Tumour was some years since mitigated by the use of Aperitives and Emplastrum Nigrum Nevertheless it still continued painful when I lay on that side besides which it would increase and decrease with the Moon But since my taking the six Doses of Sal Solutivum no Symptom of that Nature hitherto appears nor any thing like a Tumour remains The Cure of this as also of the Cramp was indeed unthought on by me then whose trouble and pain were inconsiderable to that other concontain'd in the first part of this Account but by the blessing of the Almighty all things wrought together for the benefit of Wivlescomb Decemb. 17th 1693. Your Loving Friend to use Fra. Brayne Dr. Packe I Have very often been prevented in my design of answering yours as to the Solutive Salt I have found it effectual in heat of Urine more than once I have given it to several Persons and to Children in a Tertain Fever and the second Dose has put by the Fit I seldom gave less than half an Ounce unless to Children under ten years I cured a young Woman of Quality in dolore fluxu Haemorrhoidum or bleeding Piles when all Remedies proved ineffectual with six Doses of it half an Ounce to each Dose without any return the same I did for a Gentleman of Quality of this Country it being an old and obstinate Disease I give it to Children for the Worms and to Persons in continual Fevers before any Signs of Concoction if they be restringed or there be any occasion for a Solutive because it does not disorder the Humours yet I have known it purge some Persons very much who have Lax Bowels and are of a weak habit of Body a young Maid who had a Tumour broak in the intercostal Muscles of her Breast which I perceived by her complaint and by the pus that she Cough't up I cured by giving her three Doses of these Chrystals they cleans'd and heal'd the Ulcer as I do believe for want of Appetite I have given it to very many and it always procured an Appetite to all in two or three Doses taking one remarkable Experiment of the Sal Solutivum I had almost forgot it is this A Gentleman in Hantshire had a Son about four years of Age whose Face soon after his Birth was wholly encrusted over with a Scab which continued notwithstandng all the Physicians endeavours and old Womens Medicines in the Country till it was by me totally cleansed by Sal Solutivum I dissolved half an Ounce of the Salt in four Ounces of spring-Spring-water and ordered the Childs Face to be washed therewith three times a day and at the same time the Child took the Salt in his Milk from one Dram by degrees to two Drams every Morning for three Weeks together by which means the Scab vanished and the Childs face became perfectly smooth which I look upon to be an extraordinary effect I cannot at present think of more because I am in hast but I should be glad to hear what Improvement you and some other